Eddie Grabill did not possess the power - or credentials - of his Hinsdale Central teammate, but he managed to return just about every ball he got his racket on Saturday against Martin Joyce. Placed in an uncomfortable yet not unfamiliar position, Grabill upset the top-seeded and defending-champion Joyce 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a battle of Hinsdale Central juniors for the boys tennis singles state championship at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. Grabill, a 5-8 seed,...

A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday told beleaguered Grabill Corp. to find new attorneys after ruling that its current ones were in a conflict of interest because they also had represented company founder William Stoecker, who resigned last week. Bankruptcy Judge John Squires also ordered that trustee Jay Steinberg be given "unimpeded access" to company records, said Grabill spokesman James Nathan. Steinberg is trying to trace $100 million that a consortium of eight lending banks...

Adrienne C. Curran Grabill, East County resident, died Nov. 11, 2008 at a care center in Gresham at the age of 69. There will be a service planned at a later date. Adrienne was born June 25, 1939 in Worcester, MA to Andrew J. and Libyer (Calocci) Stellato. She lived in Worcester through High School then moved to several locations including Quincy, MA and Chicago, IL. In Chicago she worked for eight years with Delta Airlines as a ticketing agent. Adrienne married...

A federal judge on Friday appointed a permanent trustee to operate the businesses of Grabill Corp., the troubled holding company of south suburban businessman William Stoecker. Judge John H. Squires empowered Jay Steinberg, who had been given limited authority to investigate Grabill's books, to take full charge of the company and its subsidiaries. Oak Forest-based Grabill filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a week ago, after eight banks petitioned the court to...

A Cook County sheriffs` team swooped in Wednesday to seize the art collection of William Stoecker, the debt-ridden owner of Grabill Corp., on behalf of banks who made personal loans to Stoecker. But the seizure was blocked by the conflicting claims of Grabill's corporate creditors. Judge John H. Squires issued a temporary restraining order against the removal of any of Stoecker's assets until his rival creditors sort out his corporate from his personal assets. Nine banks are seeking...

William Stoecker resigned Friday as chairman of tottering Grabill Corp. At the same time, a federal bankruptcy judge put the company under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. "I felt my resignation would be better for the company and give it a fresh start," said Stoecker, whose bank lenders have accused him of forgery and diverting $100 million of corporate real estate and cash. "If part of the problem was me, and you eliminate me, it solves part of the problem. . . . Maybe this will help stop the madness, so...

A federal judge placed a former certified public accountant on three years' probation Wednesday for his role in helping an Oak Forest-based company prepare false financial statements as part of a scheme that ultimately caused 25 of the nation's largest banks to lose $150 million. Richard J. Asta, 41, was a Chicago partner of the now-defunct accounting firm of Laventhol & Horwath in 1988, prosecutors said, and collected $2 million in fees for issuing false statements about...

Three banks sued William Stoecker for involuntary bankruptcy Tuesday, adding to the troubles of the Oak Forest businessman. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. N.A., Beverly Bank and Lasalle Lakeview Bank asked federal bankruptcy court to begin Chapter 11 proceedings against Stoecker, whose holding company, Grabill Corp., is in Chapter 11. The three banks claim they are owed $25 million to $26 million in personal loans, according to Gerald Munitz, of the law firm Winston & Strawn, who represents...

William Stoecker's financial house of cards came crashing down after a national magazine exposed how gullible bankers had lent the young tycoon hundreds of millions of dollars, Stoecker's lawyer told a federal jury Wednesday. Embarrassed by the disclosure, the banks "panicked" and called in their loans, forcing Stoecker's hand because he was buried under "a mountain of debt," said attorney William Thomas Huyck. Fearful of missing out on great profits, Citibank, Bankers...

By Liz Sly and David Elsner. Tribune reporter Ray Gibson contributed to this report | February 2, 1989

William Stoecker, the 31-year-old south suburban tycoon who made his fortune turning around bankrupt companies, is facing possible bankruptcy and a federal investigation into his financial methods. On Wednesday, Justice Department sources said an investigation had been launched into Stoecker's finances after creditors of his holding companies filed a bankruptcy petition to recover $148.4 million in loans. The officials said they were investigating what had happened to the proceeds of unsecured...

William Stoecker underwent nearly an entire day of cross-examination Wednesday, steadfastly denying allegations of widespread fraud in his once high-flying business. Considered a financial whiz kid in his 20s after building Grabill Corp. in Oak Forest into a multimillion-dollar operation, Stoecker, now 40, continued to portray himself in testimony as a dealmaker who didn't know too many details of the company's day-to-day dealings. In the face of considerable evidence that...

A major commercial-office development in Orland Park, costing more than $100 million will be announced within the next 90 days, William J. Stoecker, chief executive officer of Oak Forest-based Grabill Corp., told a Thursday night economic development meeting in Orland Park. Stoecker said the project would be "unlike anything in this area or planned for this area."

William Stoecker, the onetime south suburban welder who made a quick rise and fall as a business tycoon in the leveraged-buyout era of the 1980s, took the witness stand in his own defense Tuesday and said he lost control of his company's day-to-day management just a year after his first major acquisition. Testifying for the first time in federal court in Chicago against charges of widespread fraud, Stoecker portrayed himself as the dealmaker who built Grabill Corp. into an...

William Stoecker's financial house of cards came crashing down after a national magazine exposed how gullible bankers had lent the young tycoon hundreds of millions of dollars, Stoecker's lawyer told a federal jury Wednesday. Embarrassed by the disclosure, the banks "panicked" and called in their loans, forcing Stoecker's hand because he was buried under "a mountain of debt," said attorney William Thomas Huyck. Fearful of missing out on great profits, Citibank, Bankers...

Over the last six weeks at the federal fraud trial of onetime business tycoon William Stoecker, the government paraded a host of bank officers, accountants and former employees as witnesses, not unexpected in a complicated financial case. But shortly before the government rested its case against Stoecker on Tuesday, the case took a decidedly unusual twist when Stoecker's ex-wife took the stand. Grace Panfil testified that, months after their divorce, Stoecker...

William Stoecker, the onetime south suburban welder who made a quick rise and fall as a business tycoon in the leveraged-buyout era of the 1980s, took the witness stand in his own defense Tuesday and said he lost control of his company's day-to-day management just a year after his first major acquisition. Testifying for the first time in federal court in Chicago against charges of widespread fraud, Stoecker portrayed himself as the dealmaker who built Grabill Corp. into an...